Nikkei BP Releases Trend Map for First Half of 2026, with AI Scoring Highest Among 98 Keywords

Nikkei BP announced on May 15, 2026, the release of the “Trend Map for the First Half of 2026,” compiled by its marketing-focused media outlet Nikkei XTrend. The report ranks 98 notable keywords across three fields: marketing, consumer trends, and technology. The study aggregates insights from around 50 external advisory board members who advise Nikkei XTrend, along with editors and specialists in each field. Each keyword was scored for its future potential and its current economic impact. The top keywords by future potential were “e-commerce” in marketing with a score of 4.64, “cashless payments such as QR code payments” in consumer trends with 4.38, and “AI” in technology with 4.82. AI recorded the highest score among all 98 keywords. The top keywords by economic impact were “e-commerce” in marketing with 4.65, “cashless payments such as QR code payments” in consumer trends with 4.29, and “smartphones” in technology with 4.66. Newly added keywords in this edition include “agentic commerce” in marketing, “mental performance consumption” in consumer trends, and “vibe coding” in technology. Despite appearing for the first time, they received strong future potential scores: 4.15 for agentic commerce, 3.80 for vibe coding, and 3.67 for mental performance consumption. The report highlights that AI has moved beyond expectation and become a given. “AI” scored 4.82 for future potential, the highest among all 98 keywords. Its economic impact score rose by 0.34 points from the previous survey in the second half of 2025 to 4.44, the largest increase among all technology keywords. This suggests that AI is no longer seen only as a future possibility, but is already beginning to affect corporate earnings and entering the phase of implementation and monetization. The survey also focuses on four related AI keywords: generative AI and LLMs, AI agents, agentic commerce, and vibe coding. As generative AI and LLMs spread across society and industry, AI agents are emerging as autonomous systems used in business operations such as expense settlement and document creation. Agentic commerce extends this concept into purchasing behavior, where AI selects products, places orders, and completes payments on behalf of consumers. Vibe coding, another newly added keyword, refers to a new style of software development using AI. By simply describing the kind of app they want to build, users can have AI generate code, signaling an era in which people without specialized programming knowledge can create software. The concept is attracting attention because it could challenge existing SaaS business models. In consumer trends, interest in multi-habitation and workation appears to be recovering after fading following the COVID-19 pandemic. This trend is linked to the rise of experience-based consumption, suggesting that as digitization and AI adoption advance, people increasingly seek real experiences and deeper connections with places. The survey was conducted from March to April 2026 and covered 98 keywords: 35 in marketing, 32 in consumer trends, and 31 in technology. Respondents who recognized each keyword rated its future potential and economic impact on a five-point scale.